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MKC88IA025 · Bell 206L-3

10 Dec 1987 · Little Rock, AR, United States

Central Flying Service Bell 206L-3 · Incident: fire while standing

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Event

NTSB case
MKC88IA025
Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
Incident
InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
Completed
API-reported fatalities
0 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
0
OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
Unknown
WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
Visual Meteorological Cond

Bell 206L-3

Aircraft type
Bell 206
Category
Helicopter
RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
N86CH
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From not recordedTo not recorded
Aircraft age
Not recorded
Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
Unknown
Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
Standing
First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
Fire
DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
Destroyed

Cause areas

  • Fluid, oil › Contamination
  • Other person › Maintenance, inadequate
  • Oxygen system, portable › Leak

Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

AN EMS HELO WAS CONSUMED IN A FIRE WHILE PARKED AT A HOSPITAL HELIPORT. THE HELO HAD RECENTLY RETURNED FM A MEDEVAC FLT AND THE ON-BOARD PATIENT OXYGEN PRESSURE WAS LOW. TWO RESPIRATORY THERAPISTS PARTICIPATED IN REFILLING THE SYSTEM AFTER THE FLT. THE SYSTEM IS SERVICED VIA A REAR BAGGAGE COMPARTMENT, ACCESSED FM OUTSIDE THE ACFT. THE ATTENDANTS INDICATED THAT AFTER THE CONNECTION WAS MADE AND THE VALVE WAS PARTIALLY OPENED, A FIRE ERUPTED NEAR THE CONNECTION. SUBSEQUENT TO THE FIRE, ONE OF THE THERAPISTS REMEMBERED THE PRESENCE OF OIL ABV THE BAGGAGE DOOR. THIS AREA OF OIL WAS NOT WIPED CLEAN PRIOR TO COMMENCING THE FILL OPERATION. SUBSEQUENT TO THE FIRE, THE VALVE WAS TESTED AND SIGNIFICANT LEAKING AT THE CONNECTION WAS PRESENT. AFTER THE TEST A WRENCH WAS NEEDED TO SEPARATE THE COMPONENTS FOR INSPN. THE INSPN PROVIDED NO EVIDENCE OF DEBRIS OR DISTORTIOON OF THE THREADED PORTION OF THE CONNECTION. THERE WAS NO INTENT FOR FLIGHT IN THIS PARTICULAR OPERATION AND NO FLT CREW WAS PRESENT.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record MKC88IA025
Event ID
20001213X32768
Case number
MKC88IA025
Dataset
historical-pre2008
Source SHA-256
89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
  • Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
  • Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
  • The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: 990bae1f3938a361c724d5cd877439f061e142f2c2b26b411c5e93a23bf25fa4; retrieved 2026-09-18T21:23:20.165Z.